Sign letter or character



(No Model.)

R. G. LAKE. SIGN LETTER 0R GHARAGTER.

Patented Oct. 27, 1896.

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Irfizgfer Robert Lilla/16% ROBERT G. LAKE, OF CORONA, NE\V YORK.

SIGN LETTER OR CHARACTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,313, dated October 27', 1896.

Application filed August 9, 1895. Serial No. 558,722. (No model.)

To all LUhOHI/ it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT G. LAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Corona, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Sign Letter or Character, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a sign letter or character having a main surface of gold-leaf, or its equivalent, and designed to be used in connection with a base, preferably of transparent material, whereby the gold-leaf may be applied to therear or reverse surface of the base to show through the same,'and the object in view is to provide a sign letter or character of which a portion of the surface is clouded or shaded to produce contrasting polished or clouded and shaded surfaces arranged in any desired relative positions, as in lines or blocks, and-adapted to be arranged to represent block characters of which the contrasting faces represent,respectively,light and shaded faces.

Further objects and advantages of this in vention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Figure 1 represents a plan view of a character constructed in accordance with the method forming the subject-matter of my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the sign-character embodying my invention on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

The base 1, which is preferably of glass or similar transparent material, may be cut to agree with the configuration of the sign letter or character, or may be used independently as a base for the sign or character, or the.

sign or character may be applied to the glass of a window or door, as heretofore practiced in the art. It is customary to apply the goldleaf to the rear surface of this transparent base, whereby the surface thereof is protected by the base, the rear side of the leaf being protected in any suitable manner known to those familiar with the art.

In order to provide the face of the letter, which is formed of gold-leaf,with contrasting surfaces which are respectively polished and clouded or shaded, the visible face of the goldleaf is partly obscured by a coating of semitransparent or translucent material, preferably applied in a liquid form and consisting of any suitable ingredient capable of clouding the surface of the gold-leaf without entirely obscuring the same. In practice I have found a suitable material for this purpose consisting of a mixture of varnish and dry white lead. Equal quantities of these ingredients may be used, but the proportion may be varied to increase the ratio of one or the other, according to the degree of contrast desired between the polished and shaded surfaces of the letter or character, and as this difference in the degree of shading is a matter of choice with the artist I desire to be understood as fixing no definite proportions.

In constructing the letter or character I have found it convenient to first apply the coating to the surface of the base upon those lines or in those spaces which it is desired to shade, this being accomplished either by means of a roller and stencil or by the use of a stipple. After this coating has been applied the gold-leaf is attached in theusual manner to cover the coated surfaces, as well as such other surfaces as are necessary to complete the letter or character and provide the desired light or polished surfaces.

In the character illustrated in the drawings, 2 represents the polished or bright, and 3 the clouded or shaded, surfaces, and in order to divide said polished and shaded surfaces into blocks or sections lines 4 are drawn intersect ing the same, said lines consisting of the above-described coating material and being visible upon the coated or shaded surfaces by reason of the additional quantity of the coating material applied by extending the lines over the first-applied coated surfaces.

While in the drawings I have shown a letter of which the surface is only partly clouded, it will be understood that this may be varied byapplyin g the coating material and the goldleaf to represent a letter or character composed entirely of clouded surface upon a ground of the bright or polished surface, or vice versa, the essential feature of my invention residing in the method and means for producing a clouded or shaded surface upon a gold-leaf sign letter or character.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A signletterorcharacterhavinga transparent base, to the rear surface of which, and visible therethrough, is attached gold-leaf in the form of the letter or character, a portion of the visible surface of the gold-leaf, as upon the lines of shade, being clouded or partially concealed, by a coating of semitransparent material interposed between the gold-leaf and the base, the fully-exposed and partially-concealed portions of the gold-leaf forming contrasting polished and shaded surfaces, substantially as specified.

2. A sign letter or character, having contrasting polished and shaded surfaces, the same consisting of a transparent base corresponding in contour with the letter or character, a semitransparent or translucent coating attached to the base upon the lines of shade, and gold-leaf attached to the rear surface of the transparent base and visible therethrough, a portion of the gold-leaf surface being covered by said semitransparent or translucent coating.

3. A sign letter or character, having contrastin g polished or shaded surfaces, the same consisting of a transparent base corresponding in cont-our with the letter or character,

gold-leaf in the form of the sign letter or character attached to the rear surface of and visible through the transparent base, and a semitransparent or translucent coating attached to the surface of the base upon the lines of shade to cloud or partially conceal a portion of the surface of the gold-leaf.

4. A sign letter or character, having contrasting polished and shaded surfaces, the same consisting of a transparent base corresponding in contour with the letter or character, a semitransparent or translucent coating attached to the rear surface of the base upon the lines of shade, and gold-leaf in the form of the letter or character attached to the coated and uncoated portions of the rear surface of the transparent base and visible therethrough, said coating consisting of varnish and white lead.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

ROBERT G. LAKE.

lVitnesses:

Auousrus P. ScHELL, S. C. SHOEMAKER. 

